The Devil's Truth
by canagg
Summary: Mariya has a secret which only Kanako knows, but what if there was another secret, one that no one, not even Matsurika, knows? Based after Maria Holic Alive, more or less, or somewhere in the midst of the manga, I suppose. Rated T just in case, and am currently hoping that the genre 'Humor' is not incorrect.
1. The Devil's Growth

**Disclaimer: I, the humble writer called Canagg, have no claim over the characters or the actual, original story of Maria-Holic.**

**Chapter 1**

_Dear Mother in Heaven, something is… wrong._

"Ehh…" I tilt my head to one side. "Mariya-mon, you seem different."

The demon in boy's skin, which is then wrapped in girl's clothing, before me crosses his arms over his chest. "I don't need to hear about how I've changed from some yuri pig like you."

"You are correct, Kanako-sama," Matsurika inserts.

"I'll kill you, Matsurika" he mutters with a small smile.

I blink, staring at him, sitting on his bed in our room like he had been since I've walked in. It's been a while since I've seen him last since we've had our break, as I'd somehow managed to get good enough grades to be allowed to go visit my family, and I've been enjoying every second away from him that I can. And now I'm a third year while he's a second year. Still his senpai, still being called a pig. Nothing changes.

Nothing except…

"Stand up," I finally say, acting on a small gut feeling.

Mariya glares at me. "Are _you_, a rodent not worthy to carry the dust in my mansion, trying to tell _me_, an angel sent from heaven, what to do?!"

"Ah-ha!" I grin, feeling rebellious. "So your great and glorious mansion has dust, does it? So you really are a filthy boy despite how you try to act! Haha!"

His eyes gleam red, causing me to flinch. Obviously I have forgotten his punishments over the long break. I'm about to fall to the ground saying, 'Forgive me', when the rebel in me leaps up.

"And now," I continue, "you're too scared to even do something as simple as standing up! Ahahahaha!" I thoughtfully rub my chin, my smile growing wider by the second. "I believe I can think of many useful ways I can use this to my advantage. Ohohoho, yes. Many, _many_ ideas."

"You disgusting female pig." Mariya's leg reaches out and kick my legs out from underneath me, causing me to fall face-first before him. "What ever gave you the idea that you could talk to me in that way?" He asks as his foot pushes my head further and further into the flooring.

"Em tewwiblee sowweh." I'm trying to say, 'I'm terribly sorry," but words don't come out too well when your face is being squished into the floor.

"Matsurika, do you think it will be possible to imbed a female pig in the floor without any tools?"

"I don't think it would be wise," says the maid. "Her blood will then be able to flow into all of the carpet until it becomes quite dirty."

Mariya scoffs. "It was already dirty the second _she_ touched it." He finally lifts his foot off of me and I sit up, rubbing the back of my head. He and Matsurika continue debating on the best way to make me into a part of the flooring without too much trouble and danger of my often nosebleeds.

I look up at them, glancing between Mariya and Matsurika. Yes, without a doubt, something has changed. But I, in all of my stupidity which I have no choice but to admit to because of my terrible grades, cannot quite name it. I can feel my heart pounding inside of my chest as if it's trying to speak to me in Morse code, trying to warn me…

Mariya notices my gaze and he abruptly ends his conversation with Matsurika. "What is it?" He asks me.

I stand up and take a few steps away from him. "No… nothing. I think."

"You _think_?" He sneers. "Of course, it's not as if I expect some perverted cow like you to actually _know_ something. Something useful, that is."

"I know plenty of useful things!" I object hotly. "Like whenever Sachi-san bends over, the top of her blouse falls down just a little bit more than the others, giving me just enough room to let me see a bit…" My nose grows warm as I blissfully recall happy memories. "Just enough…"

His face scrunches up in disgust. "You are absolutely revolting."

"Hehehe… peek-a-boo…"

"Excuse me," Matsurika says suddenly, startling me out of my daydreams just enough to notice that she's now standing by the door, "but I have to leave now."

"Huh?" Mariya blinks. "Where the heck could you have to go to?"

"God is calling me to watch that show which airs at 5:30 on Sundays with her."

"Ah…" He nods. "Go on, then. We wouldn't want to upset God."

"Indeed not." And with that, she's gone. Literally. She doesn't open the door or anything, she's just… _poof!_ Almost as if God had gotten impatient and summoned the maid to her side…

The two of us sit in silence, simply staring at the door, until I clear my throat. "Ah… are you ready for school to start up again tomorrow, Mariya-mon? Now you'll be a second year." I grin slyly. "I wonder if you're smart enough to keep up with all of the new things you'll have to learn."

A vein in his forehead bulges.

"After all," I keep on going anyways, "this is an all-_girls_ school. I bet that a stupid boy like you won't understand the things they have to teach us girls in the upper levels of high school."

With a darkened face, Mariya stands up and starts to slowly walk over to me while muttering, "You… insolent female pig… with your bags of fat… you dare to speak to me like that…"

It's only when he's standing right in front of me do I finally realize what has changed over the break.

_Dear Mother in Heaven, send your little Kanako your blessings. She'll need a miracle to survive the next few seconds, so she'll need an army of angels to help her live through the next year._

Mariya is standing close enough to me that I can feel his body heat gently pulsing against my skin. And, more than that, I can feel _him_. Before, he had a rather small, feminine presence. But now… now he towers over me by several inches, forcing me to have to look up to try to match his heated gaze. His warm breath comes in shorts puffs on my face, making me flush.

"You…" I swallow. "You grew…"

"Yes!" He shouts in my face. "Yes, I grew! How am I supposed to keep up with the appearance of a small, innocent high school girl if I'm taller than _you,_ Ms. Eiffel Tower?!"

"That much… how did you… tall… grew so much…" I can feel a strange tightening in my chest as his hot breath continues to flow over me, proof that he's fuming mad.

He squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them. When he does, I can tell that he's calmer. "This is going to be harder," he says, walking over to his desk. "People will wonder how I grew so much over such a short period of time. Perhaps I can say that I take after you, my 'beloved senpai'…"

I can hear his words, but my head's spinning too much to really process them. "So… tall… the devil…" A hysterical giggle escapes my lips. "I didn't know the devil could grow…"

Mariya turns to face me again, and when he does, there's a malicious smirk dancing across his lips. "Then again, I can see some obvious advantages to this new size."

I finally start to re-join reality. "Advantages?"

"Let me demonstrate." He only needs to take a step forward to be a few feet away from me.

Reaching out his now-longer arm, he brushes the tips of his fingers against my cheek. A shiver goes down my spine, bringing a wave of hives with it, as well as an unfamiliar tingle that feels almost, _almost_… pleasant. His smile widens at my reaction and he gently traces his fingers along the edge of my jaw line until he reaches my chin, where he grabs me and forces my face close to his.

"Advantages such as this," he whispers, his face less than an inch away from mine. "Now it'll be all the easier to grab and devour you, Little Red Riding Hood." He runs his thumb along my lower lip, his eyelids closing halfway. "Now do you see what I mean?" His voice is low and husky in a way that I've never heard anyone sound before. It makes my heart speed up so fast I'm surprised it doesn't fly right out of my chest.

I gulp, too engulfed in his warmth and voice to even think about moving away. "I…" Before I can finish, his eyes look downwards, and he frowns. Next thing I know, he's let go of me and is back on his side of the room.

"Whatever." Mariya waves a hand in the air as if shooing away a fly. "I don't feel like playing with you right now."

He might be across the room, now facing away from me, but I can still feel his hand cupping my chin, his thumb playing with my lip… And it feels better than if I'd accidentally caught Yuzulu undressing. I glance down at my wrists. The hives are there, sure enough, so it's not really Shizu pretending to be Mariya, either.

Wait… The hives. They're not nearly as bad as before when I was touched by a man. Actually, I can barely feel them at all. And they're already getting better, even though I still have the feel of his skin on mine. I rub my wrists and jaw, almost as if I'm willing the hives to get worse. Nothing like this has ever happened before…

_Dear Mother in Heaven, please save your little Kanako from the wolf that's planning to eat her, yet making her feel like this at the same time._

* * *

**Warning: I am not sure where I am going with this. Romance, yes. Other than that, I'm totally blank. *-* I know some authors are all like, 'Ohhh! Plan ahead! He will do this and she will...' etc., and I'm not trying to say that's bad. Actually, that's probably better than what I do, which is write and hope something comes to me as I'm writing it out. It's all about perspective, I suppose. Just wanted to warn you guys.**

**And also, it seems I am getting banned from my computer at home a lot because my sister sneaks on it at night, and my mom just takes the whole frikkin computer away. -.- Anyways, the point of that is I am planning to write this story at home, then take it to library on USB flash drive(I haz no internet. ;_;), but I can't do dat if I don't haz computer. GAHHH! Time to bring out the sweet talking. XD**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm sorry if some of you guys don't like reading stories with the character's having honorifics. (Ex: Mariya-mon, Sachi-san, etc.) But I watched the subbed anime(since there is no dubbed as far as I know) and I also read the manga(as far as I can, at least) and they both have honorifics, so it just comes naturally to me. I still hope you can enjoy this story, wherever it may go! ^-^**

**R&R! Everyone have a Merry Summer! Please do not attempt to kill me if you hate this(notice the 'attempt')! Just live with it and don't go onto the next chapter. XDXDXD**


	2. The Devil's Garden

**Disclaimer: ME NOT OWN MARIA HOLIC. NOPE. NA DA. END OF STORY. ENJOY.**

**Chapter 2**

A door. That's the only thing in the black background for as far as the eye can see. A big brown door. That's it.

Hesitantly, I reach out and open said door. It seems to take longer than forever, no matter how much I push on it, before it finally creaks open, inch by inch. I'm instantly greeted by a blinding red light, which forces me to close my eyes. After a few seconds, I slowly open them once again and the light is gone, replaced only by the natural light of the sun. I take a step inside the door and look around the unfamiliar room.

Well, actually, it's not a room at all. It's a huge garden that's filled with thousands upon thousands of flower blossoming underneath a sapphire blue sky. I recognize a few of the types of flowers - such as roses, dandelions, and a few others, - but the rest are a complete mystery to me. Some are so exotic looking that I feel as though I'm on a different planet.

"So beautiful," I say to myself as there is no one else here. No one else that I can see, anyways. I look back over my shoulder, only to discover that the door I had walked through only a second ago has vanished. For some reason, I'm not really surprised. And it's not as if I really care, anyways. After all, why would I want to leave such a paradise?

There are dirt paths winding their way throughout the fields of flowers, dividing them up neatly. I pick the one closest to me and begin on my way to... well, I'm not really sure where I'm heading to, but I'm sure I'll know once I get there... if I get there. Actually, I don't even know where I am, come to think of it... but everything is so bright and cheerful that I have a hard time remembering that I forgot that I don't know where I am.

Well, whaddya know, you _can_ get headaches in paradise.

As I make my way through the garden, I notice that the hedges of flowers start to get taller. When I had first entered this place, the tallest of the flowers had only come up to a little above my shins, even the ones that I know grow on bushes that are much, much taller. Now the shortest are up to my waist on either side of me. And as I travel further and further in, they reach up to my stomach, then my chest, neck, and so on until all of the flowers are well above my head, forcing me to crane my neck if I want to see them.

I turn one corner and see a dead end several feet in front of me: a wall made out of green flower stems and decorated with the bright colors of hundreds of different types of flowers intertwined in it. Swiveling on my heel, I spin around, but I'm greeted by a similar wall instead of the path I had just come from.

Confused, I look back at where the first dead end was, but this time there's a small, circled area that wasn't there before, and in the glade are two flowers in the middle of the remaining path. I could have sworn that they weren't there a second ago...

Stepping up to the flowers, I realize that these ones only stretch up to my chest, and that they're unlike any other flower I've ever seen before. They're even weird among the ones surrounding us that I am quite certain don't actually exist.

The one on the left has long, curling petals that appear to be made of silver. Its center is a bright orange that stares unblinking at me. For some reason, it's rather... disconcerting. I can honestly say that I've never had a flower stare at me before, but now I think that I could say that I have without questioning my own sanity.

The other one, the one on the right, almost seems to be holding itself upright in a way that appears to be stubborn, which I'm pretty sure is impossible for a flower. This one's petals are straight and a bright blonde, though I notice two petals, one on either side of the flower, are longer than the others and have a bit of a bounce to them. Its center is a reddish pink, except for a black dot in the center. It almost looks like... an eye...

I start to laugh at the absurd though when it blinks.

It. Blinks._  
_

The _flower_ blinks.

The flower blinks _at me_.

_Dear Mother in Heaven, what-_

Before I can finish my prayer within the safety of my mind, the flower begins to laugh.

I'm not sure how a flower can laugh, and, honestly, I don't really want to know. But this one laughs, and it's not some nice little girl laugh, either. It's the devil's laugh, deep and evil and it resonates throughout my very soul, which I have a feeling is now in danger.

Without bothering to waste my time screaming, I turn and run as fast as my feet can carry me... right smack into the wall of flowers that blocked my way earlier.

I fall back on my rear end with a groan, rubbing my bruised nose. The flower laughs louder and harder and, I swear, it sounds even more eviler now than it did a second ago, almost as if it belongs to someone even more evil than the devil himself. It makes a shiver run down my spine, and hives pop up on my wrists and along my neck.

As I turn around slowly, my eyes widen in horror as the yellow flower begins to twist and grow taller and taller. Within seconds, it's fifty feet tall, at the least, and its main stem is as thick as I am tall. But smaller stems are still sprouting from the main one, shooting out and intertwining with others around them until they create a gigantic, mannequin-like structure. The original flower's petals, now at the top of the 'head', grow longer and thicker and gain even more petals until they fall down to the waist of the mannequin, creating a hair of sorts; the only petals that don't reach the waist are the two pigtails on either side of the head. Multicolored flowers blossom along the torso and limbs of the flower doll, and soon, the creature is clothed in a brown and white school uniform that looks all too familiar.

Before I can place a name on the flower doll, for I am sure it has a name and I know that I know it, I suddenly feel a thick, slimy substance start sucking me down into the ground. Looking down, I realize that I'm surrounded by mud. No, not just me. The entire garden has turned to mud, the flower vanishing to who knows where. Disgusting, stinky mud for as far as the eye can see, interrupted only by the sight of the enormous, still-laughing flower mannequin.

I stand up, prepared to flee; or, at least, I _try_ to stand up. The mud clings to my clothes and body, forbidding me to get off of my hands and knees. As I struggle against it, the giant flower lifts up one giant foot, now clothed in one giant boot.

"FEMALE PIG!" The flower booms out, and its foot starts to come down on top of me, threatening to squish me into the mud...

"_No!_" I scream as loud as I can, thrashing about, trying to get free of the mud... It's entangled in my arms and legs and is now covering my torso. I kick harder, struggle more, desperate to get free...

"Hey, stop th-... _I said stop that!_"_  
_

Hands grab my upper arms and pin me down against icky, sticky... blankets? There's pressure against both sides of my waist, too, but it's not from the mud. I open one eye, only to see the demon flower staring down at me, bright eyes confused and filled with something that looks almost like concern, blonde hair spilling onto my face. His knees are what are pressing against me, and it's his hands that are holding me down.

"Kanako-" he starts, but I give a yelp and, shoving him off of me, retreat into a corner of my bed.

"Go away, stupid demon flower!"

Mariya blinks, now kneeling on his knees on my bed. "Demon flower?"

I grab my pillow, still trapped in the feeling of my nightmare, and throw it at him, hitting him scare in the chest. "Get your feet away from me! I don't like the mud!"

"Mud?"

"Yes, the..." I look around, slowly starting to be drawn back into reality. "The... the mud that was... everywhere..."

Mariya sighs. "Moron. There isn't any mud in here. As if I would let any mud tarnish my living space." He throws the pillow back at me and it hits my face before falling into my lap. I pick it up and hold it, forgetting to yell at him for hitting me.

"But... you were a flower... an evil flower... and going to smash me with your stupid foot..." I squeeze the pillow tighter as I recall the nightmare. "And you called me a female pig right before you were going to squish me..." It's not the actions or words that scare me as much as the whole _feel_ of the nightmare, the feeling that I was going to die, that I would be nothing more than a speck in the endless world of mud... I shudder.

"Hey," Mariya reaches a hand out towards me, but I shrink away from it on instinct. It falls onto my bed, barely even making a noise when it lands on the sheet. He sighs again. "You're going to miss breakfast if you keep on whining about your stupid dream." He gets off of my bed and walks over to his side of the room, grabbing some books along the way to tidy them up.

I stare at him as he puts on his shoes and opens up the door, ready to leave. He looks back at me one last time, where I'm still huddled against the wall. He opens his mouth to say something, then closes it. He turns away, stepping out into the hallway. "You look tired," he says, just loud enough for me to hear. "If you're not going to eat, then get some sleep. Don't be wasting my time later complaining about how tired you are."

"Mariya-" I start to speak, but he's already closed the door, cutting me off from him.

* * *

**...yeah, not too sure myself...**

**I know, I know... not a whole of romance... yet... but it's hard to do romance between these two without getting too OOC. ;_; please have patience with me.**

**And I'm sure that a few of you have noticed that Mariya does not cuss in here, nor does anyone else. I know that in the manga and anime he cusses... a lot... but I'm sorry, I just don't like to cuss, or even write down someone else cussing. That's just how I am, so I'm sorry if that annoys you.**

**I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, please, PLEASEEEEE review! Me luv reviews. ^-^**

**HAVE A FUN END OF SUMMER! ^-^**


	3. The Devil's Immunity?

**Disclaimer: Me not own Maria-Holic. If I did, then this would not be called a FANfiction. *-***

**Chapter 3**

**Mariya's POV(kinda):**

"Ugh!" Mariya kicked his shoes off at the doorway of his and Kanako's room and threw his bag across the the room and onto his bed. "I am getting so sick of comments on my height!" He growled. "Do girls have some sort of hormone that boys don't that make it so that they can't comprehend a little something called growth spurts?! And I thought I had already dealt with this yesterday?!"

"I do not think that is it, moron," Matsurika commented. "I believe it has to do with the fact that it is almost impossible for one to grow as much as you did in such a short period of time."

"Whatever. And the first day was yesterday, so I just thought they would be used to it." Mariya huffed, crossing over to his desk and sitting in the chair sideways.. "Anyways, where is that stupid girl? Shouldn't she be back here by now?"

"We did come back here early because you are too cowardly to handle a few questions."

"I'll kill you."

"Do you need to say that?"

"Do you need to be so frikkin' annoying?"

Mariya sighed and tossed his hair over his shoulders. It had grown a bit too, but his new height had made it look shorter than it really was. Plus, his body structure was really starting to broaden out, he could tell quite easily since he had taken his corset off earlier, and a corset could only do so much for so long, anyways. And his long hours of archery were steadily giving him lean muscles that most girls wouldn't have. He was starting to become less and less feminine, that was certain... darn it all, how much longer could he keep this charade up before people started to get really suspicious of him?

"Perhaps not long enough," said Matsurika, apparently reading his mind like usual.

"Shut up," he grumbled. "You're not helping."

"I'm terribly sorry that I am of no use to you."

Before Mariya could respond with some of his own venomous sarcasm, the door to their room opened again and a very happy looking Kanako stumbled inside.

"What's with you?" Mariya demanded, noticing the sparkly flowers of moe surrounding her.

"Hehehehehe," Kanako giggled behind her hand. "Ahhh, so many beautiful new students have joined this year... and perhaps a few of them will be get lost and accidentally stumble into me, their generous senpai, and I will help show them around and then they shall want to know me more and more and then will slowly fall in love with me! Such a perfect scenario for love!"

"Geh," Mariya's face darkened with disgust. "As if anyone will ever want to become friends with you, stupid girl."

Kanako blinked, her eyes suddenly getting watery. "You... you... didn't call me a female pig! Is this, perhaps, what they call a change of heart?"

Mariya stared at her, slightly surprised. Why did she look so happy that he had 'promoted' her? And why did he feel like his bad mood was lightened a bit just because she looked so happy...?

He shook his head. What was _with_ his train of thought? Why on earth would he feel happy just because Kanako was happy? As if. No was was an angel like him going to be dragged down to her level, the pervert. He was just excited about how to crush her later now that she was even happier. Mariya closed his eyes. Yes, that was it... but then... why did his stomach give a lurch, just the smallest of lurches, at the thought of her being devastated? Did he.. no, no way. As if. Never in a million-

"Mariya-mon?" He opened his eyes to find Kanako leaning down towards him. Giving a small sound of surprise, he jumped back in his chair until his back jammed against the edge of the desk, causing him to groan in pain.

"_What?_" He asked, wincing as he tried to straighten up his posture but was greeted by a volt of sharp pain.

"You just looked... weird." She blinked, confused by his reaction.

"Says you." Why wasn't she moving away? Didn't she fear getting close to men because of her hives? She was so close he could smell the sweet scent of soap on her. Soap with just a whiff of... what was it...? Flowers. Definitely flowers.

"No, seriously," Kanako went on, leaning even closer instead of further away. "I've never seen you look so... so... I don't really know how to describe it... so deep in thought, I guess would be part of it."

"At least _I_ can actually think straight, unlike you." Mariya muttered under his breath. He looked away from her blue eyes when he discovered that it was hard to look at them at the moment. "Speaking of, don't you have any homework to do?" Even listening to her complain about how unfair her homework was would be better than having to deal with this weird feeling he was getting in his chest from how close she was.

She grinned, still not moving away. "Nope! It's only the second day of school, after all. Most teachers aren't so cruel as to give out homework on the second day back!"

Okay, that's it. He was getting tired of this. Time to turn things around.

Mariya let a slow smile, tinged with a spark of sadistic glee, spread over his face as he turned his gaze back to Kanako, who was now starting to look a bit concerned. "Is that so?"

She swallowed, obviously not liking the look in his eyes. "Ye... yeah."

Matsurika glanced over at Mariya from where she was standing silently by the bed. The look in her pink eyes made it clear that she, too, was wondering where he was going with this. It appeared her mind reading skills were down for the second. Which was a good thing, because he wasn't sure where he was going with this, either.

Mariya stood up suddenly, the fact that his body was now only an inch away from Kanako's was not lost on him but he ignored the thumping of his heart, forcing Kanako to look up at him. "So then, I take it you have plenty of time to play?" His voice lowered itself on its own and took on a hint of... roughness, was it?

"Uh..." Kanako took a step backwards, holding her hands up, palm out, as if to ward him off.

He grabbed her wrists, pulling them up above her head and leaning down until his nose was almost touching hers. Her breath, quickening up by the reaction of hives her body was having to him, fell upon his neck, causing a small moan to almost escape his lips; luckily, he managed to swallow it back down. He looked along her jawline, where hives normally appeared whenever she was touched by a man, but... they weren't... there? Why weren't they there? And if they didn't pop up, why did her face look kind of red, and why was her breathing picking up?

The last time he had touched her was two days ago, when they had first gotten back. He hadn't touched her yesterday because of her nightmare; she had kept on avoiding him all day long, even more so than she usually did. When they had retired to their room that evening, she had been back to normal, but he still didn't want to tease her, anyways. He didn't like to admit it, but it had... hurt him, a bit, to see her resist him so much. Sure, it wasn't as if she was always eager to get hives, but still...

Except now, she _wasn't_ getting hives.

Mariya gently pressed his cheek against hers as he moved to whisper in her ear. "Are you getting used to me, Kanako?" Holding both her wrists in one hand, he slowly trailed a finger down her arm before jumping over to trace the soft skin just beneath her jaw before letting his hand rest on her shoulder. "You don't seem to be breaking out in hives anymore."

"I guess that just means I'm getting immune to you!" Kanako stated triumphantly, which was strange, considering her current position. "So now you hold no power over me! Haha!"

"No?" On impulse, Mariya bit her earlobe gently. A wave of goosebumps - not hives - ran along her flesh as she let out a small gasp.

"What are you-" she interrupted herself with another gasp as he moved his lips to her neck, teasing the skin there with his tongue. His hand, previously laying on her shoulder, trailed down her side until it grabbed her waist, tugging her closer until they were pressed up one another, their body heat overlapping with the other's. When he moved his hand to the small of her back, he was surprised by her reaction of arching her body forward and into his more. And when she did, he could feel her breasts pressing against his chest, bare of the annoying corset he had started taken a habit of taking off in the evening as it had begun to hurt to wear it. He was also surprised by how... _good_ it felt, and how he found both his mind and body trying to memorize exactly how it felt.

He lifted his lips away from her skin for the briefest of seconds and he felt her body tense up when he did, but he quickly put them back on her, this time more towards the base of her neck, eliciting a soft moan from Kanako. As she drew in a breath, her skin pressed against his lips as he opened them slightly, allowing the sweet taste of her to fully enter his mouth.

When Mariya finally pulled away from her neck, he smirked at her bright red face, and couldn't help but feel smug about the two marks he had left on her neck. He finally let go of her wrist, though it took a while for her hand to fall back down to her side, and brushed the tips of his fingers against the hickeys.

He gazed at her through half-lidded eyes. "Immune?" He gave her a sultry smile and took a small step away from her. "You're not immune to me, Kanako," he whispered, twisting a small piece of her hair around his finger. "Not even close."

* * *

**Did anyone notice that Matsurika was just kinda watching all of _this_ from the side? O.e Couldn't find a way to get her out of the room... well, not with this headache I have, anyways. And would anyone of you believe that it took me longer to write the last little paragraph than the rest of the chapter? I am terrible at endings...**

**I hope you enjoyed reading this, cuz I enjoyed writing this, even though I felt totally awkward! Yay awkwardness! *-***

**See ya in the next chapter! May you be eternally blessed by the moon forever! ...whatever that means... just read it randomly somewhere... XD**


	4. The Devil's Comfort

**Disclaimer: Yeah. I totally own Maria-Holic. I'm totally a frikkin epic Japanese manga artist who likes to write fanfictions about my own manga stories in English. Totally.**

**Chapter 4**

_Dear Mother in Heaven, please help your darling little Kanako from melting..._

"Are you okay, Kanako-chan?" I open my eyes and see Sachi's big blue eyes, filled with worry, staring at me. "Your face is kind of red..."

"I'm fine," I insist, waving her away with one hand. "Totally fine. Just feeling some leftover heat from summer, ehehe..."

"Then you should put your collar down," Yuzuru suggests. "You've had it up since this morning. You'd feel better if you put it down."

My hand flies to my neck where my my collar is turned up. "Oh, no, it's good." I smile weakly.

Nanami pushes her glasses back up. "You really should take Yuzuru's advice. The neck is one of those placse that helps determine your body heat. If your neck is cold, you are cold, and so on."

I'd like to. Honestly, I really _really_ want to pull my collar down and let some air flow over my boiling hot neck... but if I do that, then the two hickeys Mariya gave me last night will be completely and totally visable for everyone to see. How could I explain _that_? Everyone already knows I live in the dorm, so it's not as if I can say that I went and visited my 'boyfriend'. And even if I could say that, I wouldn't. Just the thought of even pretending to like a boy... ugh. I'm getting the hives just thinking about it..._  
_

Wait.

Wait.

_Wait._

I glance at my wrist. Sure enough, there are little red bumps running up and down my arm, and I can feel them along my jaw, too. But... that doesn't make any sense. I didn't get the hives last night at all when Mariya was... My face heats up even more than it already was as I recall his lips pressed against my skin, his breath whispering over my ear, the way his body felt up against mine, how masculine he was in that moment...

_WAIT!_

Everyone in the lunch turns to look at me, making me realize that I did not keep that last word inside my head as well as I thought I did. I blush even harder and sink down into my seat, suddenly losing my appetite.

"Kanako-chan?" Sachi presses the back of her hand against my forehead. I relish in how cool it is, how it seems to take away from my heat for just one second, even... "Kanako-chan! You're burning up!"

"Huh?" I blink a few times, willing the bright dots that appeared along the edge of my vision to go away. "No, I'm not. You're just really, really cool..."

"You need to go to the nurse, Kanako-san!" Yuzuru says.

"I'm fine," I mumble tiredly. But sleeping in the infirmiry does sound rather nice... with nice, clean, cold blankets... The dots multiply until they're almost taking over my vision.

"Here," Sachi stands up and grabs my arm, flinging it over her shoulder. "Lean on me, okay? Yuzuru, you get her other side." My other arm is soon put around another set of shoulders and before I know it, I'm being half-dragged out of the cafeteria.

"You guys are so cold..." I mutter. "Do you need a coat?"

"Hang in there, Kanako-chan!" Sachi exclaims. "Don't die!"

"She won't die," Yuzuru tells her as we turn a corner. "That's a bit much..."

My head is spinning too much for me to appreciate the fact that I'm being carried by two lovely young girls. And when I finally do remember, I find out that I don't really feel up to it. Must be the heat.

"Sensei!" Sachi calls out. I take it that we're in the infirmiry now, though I can't tell because of the pigs dancing in front of my eyes.

"Piggy..." I giggle. "Little dancing piggies... oink, oink."

The nurse puts a hand on my forehead, says something to Sachi and Yuzuru, and before I can even blink, I'm lying down on one of the cots of the infirmiry, a wet washcloth pressed against my scorching head. Drops of cold water mingle with the beads of sweat dotting my brow. A blanket covers me, and I hear the nurse telling my classmates that I'm going to be okay, and that they should go finish lunch before the bell rings. Then she comes over to me and I open my eyes a crack to look at her.

"Baka," she scolds. "You should take better care of yourself. How did you sleep last night? Good? Bad?"

I think back as hard as I can. Mariya had finally let me go and I had fallen into bed a second after stumbling through the motions of putting my nightgown on... Oh, right. I had fallen out of bed in the middle of the night and so slept on the cold floor in just my pajamas, since I hadn't brought any blankets down with me. That could explain it.

That and the fact that I had gone to bed covered in nervous sweat from Mariya's... actions.

"Good," I lie.

Her eyes narrow, but she shrugs. "Just get some rest. When you're feeling better, I'll send you back to your dorm room where you are to do nothing but sleep, you got that?"

I'm dragged into a deep, warm sleep before I can answer.

* * *

So quiet... peaceful... I haven't had this kind of silence in a long time. Not since I came to Ame no Kisaki, that's for sure.

I can think clearly again, so that's good. And right now, I'm thinking that I don't want to leave this bed, that I just want to sleep for a while longer... just enough to make up for my troubled sleep last night.

I'm just about to fall asleep again when I feel fingers graze my temple, then trail up to my hairline. It feels soothing, relaxing. Almost as if they, too, are trying to lull me into sleep. I'm tempted to open my eyes to see whose fingers they are, but then they gently fall down to the tip of my ear, tracing its shape before moving lower. Warmth spreads throughout me wherever they touch; the pleasant warmth seems to fill me from the inside, before flowing out into the rest of the room. And it's only when they leave after finally reaching my chin that I realize that they feel familiar.

"Mariya?" I ask softly. The single word echoes throughout the room, and I hear the sound of someone standing up and the warmth ebbs a little. I can't help myself. "Mariya." This time it's more pleading than questioning. I crack my eyes open a little, trying to see my comforter, but the sudden light is too bright for me to open them anymore. Suddenly I hear the sound of footsteps heading towards the door, and my heart speeds up. My eyes fly open, and I wince as the light hurts my eyes but I keep them open nonetheless.

But it's too late. The room is again empty except for me, and all the warmth is gone, replaced only by a cold, bitter air.

* * *

**I did almost have this published like a week ago, but then I got banned from my tablet, so I couldn't finish it. And now school is starting for me, so it's going to be even harder to find time to go to the library until I get un-banned. ;-; But I shall do my best! I think I'll be able to write in school a bit... though this fanfiction is a bit more... detailed than my others, so I'm risking super-embarrassment by doing that. People in my class are really curious which is good, but sometimes realllllllllllllllly un-helpful. If that's a word. XD**

**Thank you for your constant reviews, Nix8995 and 241L0RM3RCUR1! I really appreciate it, and feel more and more motivated to continue writing with each and every review! ^-^**

**May the peaceful days of summer come again quickly(but not so quick as to miss Christmas. XD)! Please Review! ^-^**


	5. The Devil's Facade

**Disclaimer: I wish I could draw like this mangaka can. I wish. I dream. I fail. End of story.**

**Chapter 5**

Mariya sighed as he tromped through the halls. Everyone else was in class, so he didn't have to worry about being spotted acting un-ladylike. After all, 'ladies' don't usually glare at nothing at all like that nothing is the devil himself. Nor do they tend to grumble under their breath with hands, which didn't look too dainty and feminine, balled into fists at their sides.

And the face of a proper lady didn't usually tend to be blushing red for what would appear to be absolutely no reason whatsoever.

He still didn't understand why he had done that to Kanako back in the infirmary. After all, he had only went to look like the perfect little—well, maybe not so little anymore—worried roommate. That was it. He was to go in, sit next to her for a few minutes, curse her out in his head for being such a moron, and leave. That was it. Nothing more, nothing less, and—_bam!—_mission accomplished.

But when he had seen her laying there, her face flush from the heat, eyes closed, he couldn't help thinking about how... fragile she almost looked. Almost. Nothing was fragile about her, really. It was just the how the light had hit her, how it had weaved through her hair and danced across her long eyelashes; it was just how her breaths had been a bit shorter, the way the blanket had been slowly, ever so slowly, slipping from her skin, exposing more and just a bit more... And he couldn't help himself. It was like he just _had_ to touch her, had to feel that soft, soft skin. It was as if, for a moment, she was a siren and he the sailor, bound by her endless song.

That was it. A weird one time thing that would never happen again. A total fluke, just like the fact that Kanako had simply called him 'Mariya'. Not 'Mariya-mon'. Not even an honorific. Just... Mariya. And how she had whispered it, slightly out of breath, the way that one word had floated across the room...

_Never_, Mariya promised himself, shaking his head even as his blush turned a shade darker. He had nothing to gain from touching her like that when she was practically unconscious. He wouldn't get to see her fret and turn red, wouldn't get to hear her yell at him to get away from her so she wouldn't get hives. More than likely, she wouldn't even remember his tender actions in a couple of hours. There was absolutely nothing he could ever gain from doing something like that in that sort of situation, that was for certain.

So why was his heart pounding so much?

* * *

Matsurika was waiting for Mariya in their dorm room.

It wasn't terribly unusual for her to be waiting for him. Like when he had archery, or sometimes a classmate just '_had_' to talk to him, Matsurika would go on ahead without him. It's not as if it was a huge deal or anything.

So why did today feel so different?

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Mariya demanded sharply.

"What are you doing?" She asked, just as calm and stoic as ever.

Mariya dumped his bags next to his bed and jumped up on his desk, flipping his long blonde hair over his broadening shoulders. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yesterday. And today in the nurse's office."

"What did it look like I was doing?" He smirked. "Teasing our stupid little pig, obviously."

Matsurika blinked once. Just once. "Is that so."

"Yes, that is so." He frowned, suddenly feeling suspicious of where this conversation was heading. "Why do you ask? Don't tell me you're actually starting to feel sorry for her or something."

"I do not believe that is the case."

"Then what _is_ the case, pray tell."

Matsurika tilted her head to one side, her long silver hair falling over one shoulder. Her pink, almost lifeless, eyes bore into Mariya's as if they could see into his soul and decipher what was scarred there.

Maybe they could.

Silence fell upon the small room as the two of them sat, tensely, Mariya waiting for an answer and Matsurika denying him it. Second by second, minute by minute. Not a sound. Mariya was just about to let out a groan and complain when, finally, Matsurika's quiet voice filled the room.

"I think," she said slowly, "that you are not yourself as of late."

Mariya was silent for a few seconds before he scoffed. "As if! I am the same as always, moron."

She shook her head. "No. I do not think so."

He rolled his eyes, folding his arms over his chest. "And what makes you say that?"

"Your eyes."

He waited for more explanation. When it was obvious that there wasn't going to be any, he said, "My... eyes?"

"Your eyes," Matsurika echoed. "And you. How you sit, how you stand, how you walk, how you talk. It's all exactly the same as before, yet... slightly... different."

This wasn't right. It just wasn't how Matsurika usually acted. It's not as if how she acted was normal, per say, but it was how _she_ was. She had never really commented on how Mariya acted before, never mentioned that she thought he was different. Heck, even when he had his stupid growth spurt over the break, she hadn't said a single word about it unless she could use it to make him mad.

And... was this how _he_ usually acted? A year ago, or less, even, would he have stroked a girl's face like he had done to Kanako just hours ago? Would he have even bothered to actually enter the infirmary if the nurse wasn't in? He could have just stopped right outside the door, come to think of it. He didn't actually have to go in. It would have been enough to just pretend that he had visited her. Had she actually been awake the whole time and later told her classmates that he hadn't seen her, he could have claimed that she had been sleeping at the time and had probably forgotten that she had fallen asleep.

So why did he actually go in to see her? And why did it hurt his chest to think about it?

Mariya's scowl deepened. "You're wrong," he stated firmly. "Nothing has changed except for my freaking height. I'm exactly as I was a few months ago, and a few months before that, and a few months before _that_."

"No." Matsurika answered simply. "You are different. I can see that, and I bet Kanako can, too."

He stood up suddenly, slamming his fist on his desk as fury burned through him. "I'm the same as I always was!" He shouted. "I'm not any different! I'm not!"

"Then why are you so worked up? All I did was mention Kanako's name."

He growled, deep in his throat, and pounded the table again. "Why do you keep on asking me these stupid questions?"

She gave a slight shake of her head. "Listen to yourself. You sound like a toddler."

Mariya sucked in a breath. He knew she was right, but the part of him engulfed in rage didn't care. He just wanted to shout at her, to yell, to fight. No... that wasn't it... not entirely, anyways. She was annoying as heck, yes, but it wasn't her causing him this emotion... what was, then? And why did it hurt so much, yet feel... kind of... nice, he would say, if it didn't burn so much.

His fist smashed into the wall, creating a circular-like dent. "Screw it," he hissed. He stomped over to the door, losing any sense of caring that he was acting no better than a three-year-old being told to go to bed.

"Where are you going?" Matsurika asked.

The door flew open. "Out," he gnarled. Then the door closed with a forceful _bang_, letting Mariya, for a brief time, at least, escape from the fire flaring in his heart.

* * *

**Ahahahahahaha... it's been so long... *sigh*. I was hoping I could write on my fanfics in school, but I'm trying to actually pay attention in school this year, and I've discovered that it's extremely difficult to sneak in fanfic-writing sessions in between learning how to make being burnt at the stake less painful and reviewing how to make cocaine... so... I haven't written any in school at all, actually... *sigh* oh well. Here it is now, at least! ^-^**

**And crazy story... I found a family genealogy book that's based on my dad's side, and one of my distant relative's name is actually Mariya!**

**o.o**

**It was fate that lead me to anime and, eventually, to Maria-Holic! ALL FOR THIS MOMENT! WAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!**

**Make of that what you will.**

**Have fun dying from all the freaking homework. I know I won't.**

**At least one of my homework assignments right now is to draw someone, and I'm making a slight edition to that command to make it 'draw someone anime-style'.**

**;)**


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